NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Stephen Curry was back in Golden State's lineup and his 23 points helped the Warriors end a two-game skid with a 111-95 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
“He looked great. He was moving really well, took care of the ball," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "He looked like himself and I think the week off did him a lot of good.”
Curry, who's averaged about 24 points this season, had been sidelined by a left pelvic contusion that occurred during a victory over Toronto on March 20 in which Curry scored 17 points in 25 minutes.
“I didn't break anything or have any bone damage. It's mostly just a deep, serious contusion, Curry said. "I'll feel it for a while, but I can play. I can't make it worse — as long as I don't land on it again.”
Golden State lost both games Curry missed, dropping to 7-5 when he doesn't play.
Curry said the lingering discomfort from the injury affects “pretty much everything” he does, but he added, “it's not at a level where I'm out there worried about it.”
Curry officially was listed as available to play — and as a starter — less than an hour before tip-off in New Orleans. He played 34 minutes and made just 7 of 21 shots, but also hit five 3-pointers.
“A week off is great in one aspect because you're rested, but the timing, the endurance of your regular minutes, that was a little bit of a challenge,” Curry said. “All in all, it was a great night. Obviously nice to get the win. ... These are the games you have to win.”
The Warriors are now halfway through a six-game trip, with stops coming up at San Antonio on Sunday and Memphis on Tuesday before concluding Thursday against the Lakers in Los Angeles.
The victory in New Orleans improved the Warriors to 42-31, tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for sixth place in the Western Conference. The top six seeds in each conference bypass the play-in and advance straight to a first-round playoff series.
“Nobody wants to be in a play-in if you can control the outcome,” Curry said. "But, I think we're past looking at the standings every night. It's just: Win as many games as possible, worry about each night as best as you can.
“It is fun to go back to your phone, look at the around-the-league scores and see what's going on, but you can't obsess over that or put too much pressure on yourself,” Curry continued. “Just play basketball, develop good habits and hopefully that takes care of itself.”
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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, center, moves the ball between Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) and forward Jamison Battle (77) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, March 20, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots past New York Knicks guard Miles McBride (2) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, March 15, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)
Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry grimaces in pain after a rough landing in the 3rd quarter against Toronto Raptors during NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco on Thursday, March 20, 2025.(Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday instructed the Justice Department to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a sweeping election overhaul that Georgia Republican lawmakers passed in the wake of President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss in the state.
The lawsuit, filed in June 2021 under former President Joe Biden, alleged that the Georgia law was intended to deny Black voters equal access to the ballot. Bondi said the Biden administration was pushing “false claims of suppression.”
“Georgians deserve secure elections, not fabricated claims of false voter suppression meant to divide us,” she said.
The law was part of a trend of Republican-backed measures that tightened rules around voting, passed in the months after Trump lost his reelection bid to Biden, claiming without evidence that voter fraud cost him victory. The fallout was swift after Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the law in March 2021, with the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola voicing criticism and Major League Baseball's commissioner deciding to move that year's All-Star Game from Atlanta's Truist Park.
Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans who drew Trump's ire when they refused to help overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, strongly denounced the Justice Department lawsuit when it was filed. Raffensperger on Monday called Bondi's announcement “a significant win for Georgia voters.”
“Our commitment has always been to ensure fair and secure elections for every Georgian, despite losing an All-Star game and the left’s boycott of Georgia as a result of commonsense election law,” Raffensperger said in a statement.
Kemp also welcomed Bondi's announcement. He accused Democrats and others of spreading “lies and misinformation” and said, “Georgia is one of the top states in the country for early voting and experienced record voter turnout in multiple elections since the passage of the Elections Integrity Act.”
Fair Fight Action, a voting rights advocacy organization started by former Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams, slammed the plans to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the law has made it “harder — not easier — for many Georgians to vote.”
“Dismissing this case doesn’t change the truth, it just proves Trump’s DOJ will not work to protect Americans’ freedom to vote,” Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said in a statement.
Known as SB 202, the law added a voter ID requirement for mail ballots, shortened the time period for requesting a mailed ballot and resulted in fewer ballot drop boxes available in populous metro Atlanta counties that lean Democratic and have a significant Black population. The law also banned the distribution of food and water by various groups and organizations to voters standing in line to cast a ballot.
In announcing the dismissal of the lawsuit, Bondi said Black voter turnout in Georgia “actually increased” after the law was passed. A December analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice found that while the number of ballots cast by Black voters increased from 2020 to 2024, Black turnout actually declined by 0.6% because the increase in the number of ballots cast by Black voters did not keep up with population increases.
“Understanding whether, or to what extent, these declines are due to restrictive voting policies such as Georgia’s S.B. 202, justifiable feelings that the government is not working for them, or myriad other factors will be of signal importance,” the analysis says.
In addition to the Justice Department lawsuit, about a half-dozen other suits were filed by civil rights and election integrity groups raising claims based on the U.S. Constitution and the federal Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in voting.
FILE - Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
